Well, I'm in no way a professional (far from it), but I am doing a
frame-off - and doing most of the work myself (with a good bit of advice and
help from my friends and fellow club members). Let me give you a feeling of
how many hours I've "spent" so far. Disassembly took approximately 300 to
400 hours to bring the car down to a bare frame with no nuts and bolts
attached - this includes evenings and weekends on a time available basis. I
began the disassembly process in October, 1999 and got to what I would call
the end of disassembly in March, 2000.
Reassembly, which I suppose began with the stripping and painting of the
frame, started sometime in April, 2000. Since then, I would figure I have
spent approximately 200 hours painting, rebuilding the suspension (which is
almost completed), including rebuilding my rear hubs (thanks Wayne Whippo
and Mike Cline), and beginning the machining work on the engine and head
(which I'm only counting time to get the block to the machine shop).
Rebuild is far more labor intensive than the disassembly! (I sure made an
understatement here!). My expectation of myself is to complete the TR6 in
time for VTR in 2001. I have one year, and would expect to spend another
600 to 1,000 hours of my time - this would assume that someone else paints
the car.
If I tally these figures, I'm at about 1,600 hours of my own time, not
counting painting time. The mechanic labor rate in Denver seems to be about
$60 to $80 bucks per hour. I would assume a professional restorer might do
all the work on the car, so count another 100 hours for painting and
bodywork? However, their time may be less due to their ability to "get it
right the first time"! (Something I sure wish I could do! It would save in
the aggravation department.) So figure a reduction of 300 hours off my
tally, and we are around 1,400 hours. This times the rate per hour would
cost anywhere from $84,000 to $98,000. Now we haven't even talked about the
cost of new parts in these figures.
Wow, that is one expensive car. Would a professional restorer really charge
these rates?
Now my plug for all those people who have helped and aided me along the way.
Thanks to Mike Cline, Bud Rolofson, Tom DiIulio, and Wayne Whippo for all of
your collective help! I'm sure I will still require it along the way, and I
appreciate it! They are all list members and RMTC members.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-triumphs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-triumphs@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Randall Young
Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 10:41 AM
To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: cars value
Mark :
It's not only possible, it's actually pretty reasonable IF you take the
approach of paying a professional to do a full, frame-off restoration.
Think
2000 hours labor times $45/hour, plus parts and materials.
I haven't added it up, but I'll bet 2000 hours wouldn't even cover taking it
all apart, stripping and painting, and reassembling. Major body repairs
will
be in addition to that figure, and can be quite expensive in themselves,
especially if you refuse to have any bondo in the result.
Randall
On Wednesday, August 16, 2000 8:10 AM, Mark Gendron
[SMTP:mgendron@speakeasy.org] wrote:
>
> No. . .you are joking, aren't you? Please tell me you're joking. How is it
> even POSSIBLE to spend so much on a TR3?
|